Pam Shave has a garden packed full of plant treasures. There’s wonderful scented roses, clematis, special perennials, and a whole border of foxgloves. And the good news is, you can visit the garden and see them too. Pam is county organiser for the NGS-Yellow Book – open gardens scheme, which raises money for cancer care and nursing charities.
I was lucky enough to visit today for a preview. Here’s a slide show of plants that caught my eye.
Foxgloves stand out in a border packed full of geraniums, campanulas, poppies and day lilies galore.
Thalictrum aquilegifolium or meadow rue. A pretty filler between the standard and bush roses.
David Austin Roses are beautifully healthy and deliciously scented. This one pictured above is Princess Alexandra of Kent. Blue herbaceous geranium provides a pretty weed-smothering ground cover beneath them.
This James Galway rose with very frilled petals is growing along the boundary fence. The scent is like a summer fruit salad, all pineapple, peaches and melon combined.
Pink sanguisorba is a lovely “fluffy filler” in amongst the roses and echoes the spires of the foxgloves.
Geranium Summer Skies is a perennial worth searching for. It makes a statement plant mid-June, and then blooms again if cut to the ground after flowering.
Oriental poppies are another high summer attraction, and this one is a particularly pretty pale pink, with ink-black stamens. It’s called Papaver Royal Wedding.
I grow blue and white love-in-a-mist. I wouldn’t be without its delicate starry flowers and pretty seed heads. Pam grows this variety, with a range of pinks and whites, called Nigella Mulberry Rose.
There are little collections of containers all around the garden. I’ve never seen so many in one garden. Even some of the vegetables are grown in pots. Here there’s annual cosmos with scented-leaved pelargoniums.
Roses also grow in huge 50cm terracotta pots. This is a David Austin rose. I’m just waiting for confirmation on the names of some of these plants. I was enjoying my visit so much, I forgot to look at the labels. (Pam has reported back- this one is Lady Emma Hamilton. A must-have for me.)
Clematis Versailles grow in 45cm pots, as a pair, each side of the back door. Such a beautiful purple colour, with a deeper stripe down the centre of each petal.
Underplanting for the clematis is this pretty scented nemesia, an annual which can be kept going from one year to the next by taking cuttings and overwintering in a frost -free greenhouse .
Masses of flowers and full of bees and hover flies .
Bees love the violas, also growing in a collection of plant pots. Viola Florence and Martin came from Jack and Laura at Bouts Nursery.
A raised brick-edged pond spills into another horseshoe-shaped pond on a lower level. We sat on the pond side, watched the fish and admired the miniature water lilies.
Exotic-looking gazanias grow well in free draining compost with added grit, in a sunny spot, or in containers.
Oak Tree House opens this Weekend, 22 and 23 June. North Road, South Kilworth, Leicestershire, LE17 6DU.
Links : NGS Oak Tree House https://www.ngs.org.uk/find-a-garden/garden/20265/
David Austin Roses: https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/
Perennials : https://www.hardysplants.co.uk/
clematis : https://www.raymondevisonclematis.com/
Many thanks to the Garden Media Guild for organising today’s visit : https://www.gardenmediaguild.co.uk/
Please feel free to share this post and spread some good news. And follow me on twitter @kgimson, on Instagram karengimson1 . Thank you 😊
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Thank you 😊
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I love the border and it is a bee’s paradise! Amelia
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Thank you. It really is a bee paradise ! 🙂 x
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What a pretty garden, Karen. After our own openings I shall get the NGS book out and start looking at ones to visit – too much to think about up to know! I have grown Mulberry Rose from seed too but hadn’t realised they were mixed shades – must check the packet!
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Thank you Cathy. Good luck with your garden opening plans. x
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Thanks Karen, all good so far
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What an absolutely beautiful garden! I love the variety and such vivid colors! Thank you for sharing!
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Thank you 😊
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Beautiful plants – and bees – so well photographed
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Thank you Derrick. It is a splendid garden. So much to see. Enjoy your Summer Solstice
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What a gorgeous garden Karen. I have put Meadow Rue on my wish list.
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Thank you. It really is a special place. That meadow rue is so pretty. Enjoy your summer solstice 🙂
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